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Remote Door Unlock: Tot Locks Parents Out

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The Neidlinger family — Steve, Katie and 19-month-old Drew — were traveling from Michigan to Tennessee to visit family over Thanksgiving. They stopped for gas somewhere in Ohio just as the sun started to set. Katie went inside the shop while Steve pumped the gas.

Steve had shut the front door of the TrailBlazer and was just about to open the back door to get Drew’s sippy cup when, in that brief instant, he heard an ominous click. Drew had just locked the car doors.

The keys and both Steve’s and Katie’s cell phones were locked safely inside with Drew, who was happily smiling at his dad — whose nose was now pressed tightly up against the side window in disbelief.

“The OnStar number was locked inside with the keys.”

When Katie returned to the car, she was naturally alarmed — not to mention getting colder by the minute. “There we were, in an unknown town with our son trapped in our TrailBlazer. We are OnStar subscribers, but the OnStar number was also locked inside with everything else. We tried to get Drew to unlock the door but he just laughed and waved at us — thankfully he wasn’t scared or crying. We weren’t sure what to do next and thought about calling the police.”

About that time, Steve looked around the gas station and realized the car in front of them was also a Chevy. Steve asked if the owner had OnStar — he did, and he also had the OnStar number programmed into his cell phone, which Steve borrowed.

“My husband called OnStar and, after the Advisor asked him a few questions to verify that the TrailBlazer was really ours, the doors were unlocked in seconds,” says Katie.

“We were so grateful. Needless to say, we’ll never be without OnStar. We tell our story to people all the time. And we now have the OnStar sticker on our TrailBlazer’s window and the phone number programmed into both our cell phones. You never know when you’re going to need OnStar but, when the time comes, you can help make sure you’re ready for it.”

How Remote Door Unlock1 works

If you lock your keys in the car, OnStar Advisors can help — anytime, 24 hours a day. And there are no limits on how often you can use the service. Put your OnStar sticker in your window — or program the number into your cell phone — so you’ll have easy access if you need it.

Here’s how it works:

Call 1.888.4.ONSTAR (1.888.466.7827).

Verify your account information.

A remote signal is sent to your vehicle that usually unlocks the door.